Here's a little snippet from my friend Pat Armstrong about the Mona Lisa from an article by David Rising, Associated Press

A researcher has uncovered evidence that apparently confirms the identityof the woman behind the Mona Lisa's iconic smile, Germany's University ofHeidelberg says.

She is Lisa del Giocondo, wife of Florentine businessman Francesco delGiocondo, according to notes written in the margins of a book by a friendof Leonardo da Vinci as the artist worked on the masterpiece, the schoolsaid in a statement Monday.

The discovery by a Heidelberg University library manuscript expert appearsto confirm what has long been suspected. It is also an answer that hasbeen in plain view for centuries: the Mona Lisa is known as La Gioconda inItalian.

Del Giocondo was first named as the likeness in the painting by Italianwriter Giorgio Vasari in 1550, who also dated the work at between 1503 and1506, the university said. But because Vasari relied on anecdotal evidence, there were always doubtsabout the identification, and Leonardo is not known to have made any notesabout the model's identity himself.

Compounding the mystery, vague references in 1517, 1525 and 1540 point toother identifications. "One possibility discussed is the presentation of a fictitious likeness ofa woman; Leonardo's female ideal," the school said. But the find by Heidelberg library expert Armin Schlechter settles thematter, according to the university.

In a copy of the works of Roman philosopher Cicero, a Florentine officialand friend of Leonardo's wrote in the margins that da Vinci was working ona portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. The friend, Agostino Vespucci, dated hisnotes October 1503, also helping to pin down the exact time Leonardo wasworking on the painting.

"All doubts as to the identity of the Mona Lisa are eliminated (by) onesource," the university said.

The discovery was actually made in 2005, but was not widely known until aGerman radio station last week aired it in a report.